Abyss – Netflix Season 1 Episode 15 Recap & Review

Drinking Our Problems Away

Now into its last week, Abyss returns for drunken misadventures and a final nail in the coffin for Seo Ji-Uk as we ramp up for tomorrow’s finale. Abyss’ journey has been an interesting one, to say the least. The show has failed to really hit its stride numerous times and as I’ve said before, the plot feels torn between its various different genres that feel jarring and don’t blend well together, offsetting the pace of the show.

We begin this penultimate episode with Se-Yeon’s Father throwing up, having drunk too much the night before. Se-Yeon checks on him to make sure he’s okay before getting back into bed, waking up the next day feeling refreshed after a night snuggled up with Cha Min.

With engagement plans in full swing, Cha Min has a heart to heart with his father who tells him he’s a decent guy while Se-Yeon prepares for a big day ahead. She dresses herself in jewelry, much to the surprise of Cha who tells her she looks good.

While the police try and piece together some evidence on the case, Seo Ji-Uk shows up with a neck brace and offers his services. While Dong fronts the case with Detective Park, Cha Min and Se-Yeon sneak into Seo’s apartment and begin snooping around, narrowly missing him when he returns home. However, they do manage to obtain some thread scissors and promptly take them back to the station to use as evidence.

Cha Min, Se-Yeon, Mi-Do and Dong then all decide to get blind drunk and from here, a good portion of the episode is taken up with them drinking and having a good time. Soon after, Seo tells Dong that any evidence gained unlawfully cannot be used, prompting them to chase after Dae-ung soon after. Cleverly, this leads them on to lawfully gaining a warrant to Seo’s place and finding what they needed.

Seo then phones Judge Seo and tells him to make a public announcement that he is his son. After contemplating his options, Judge Seo then takes to the stage and announces he killed his wife 25 years ago before pointing out his real biological son, wheeled into the room by Detective Park. It turns out he struck up a deal with him.

Meanwhile Cha Min and Se-Yeon enjoy the rest of their day until Cha arrives home and sees a new rule appear on the orb – when the orb light dies, so too does the owner. As Se-Yeon again asks Cha Min to marry her, they embrace and the episode ends with Cha looking glum following the orb’s message.

After 15 episodes, I’m still not sure what Abyss is trying to tell us in terms of narrative. There’s a vague crime thriller in here somewhere but over the weeks it’s been stifled in favour of the romantic angle between Cha and Se-Yeon. Admittedly, these scenes are actually well written and certainly believable but even if one of them dies next episode (which is what I’m predicting right now), there still feels like a big hole where the narrative should be.

I’ve said it before that Abyss doesn’t feel like the same show it did 7 or 8 weeks ago and that much is true at least. When the show began all those weeks ago, a quirky, over the top fantastical sci-fi was presented and since then, the series has dabbled in many different ideas, with none of them truly sticking. A real shame for sure but Abyss is not one to remember, even if the romance between Se-Yeon and Cha Min is well written.